Anesthesiology's success in making the intraoperative environment an extremely safe place, an accomplishment now recognized and emulated by other specialties, should not obscure the fact that important fundamental questions about the entire perioperative experience remain unanswered. These questions include 1) the mechanism of general anesthetic action, 2) systems biology of the perioperative state, 3) the mechanism and prevention of postoperative delirium and cognitive dysfunction, 4) potential toxicity of the anesthetics 5) how to increase safety by applying best practices and effective communication throughout the perioperative period, 6) how to improve long-term outcomes that may relate to the perioperative period, 7) organ failure in critical care, and 8) the mechanism and treatment of acute and chronic pain. However, maintaining the scientific infrastructure that will guide Anesthesiology into the future requires a core of well-trained and motivated Physician-Scientists within the specialty who are dedicated to the pursuit of problems important to the field. To help ensure a scientifically robust future for Anesthesiology, the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine (ACCM) at the Johns Hopkins University is submitting this renewal application to continue support of Postdoctoral Research Training in Anesthesiology. In addition to providing a critical avenue for the support of Trainees, it is anticipated that this program will continue to refine the approach whereby Johns Hopkins ACCM recruits, trains, and develops the next generation of Physician- Scientists in the specialty of Anesthesiology. ACCM has a long and productive history of clinical and basic research training in Anesthesiology, which this Training Program will continue to build upon and formalize. This expectation is now being realized with the outstanding past and current Trainees supported by the Training Program. When combined with the considerable resources already in place for faculty development within ACCM and at Johns Hopkins University, this Anesthesiology Postdoctoral Research Training grant will continue to provide an outstanding opportunity for training Physician-Scientists who will continue to build the scientific foundation for the practiceof Anesthesiology.